As written in my previous post, there are five main reasons to vote AGAINST
the Noichl Initiative Report, EU Strategy for Equality between Women and Men
post 2015 that you need to keep in mind while voting next Tuesday, 9th June. Most important arguments are as follows
- 48% of the Noichl Report’s paragraphs are in clear contradiction to the EU Principle of Subsidiarity.
- 35% of paragraphs are «off topic» with regard to the subject of the report: Strategy on Equality between men and women post 2015.
- 17% of paragraphs entail serious risks of restrictions on freedom of speech of the media, freedom of education and freedom in the context of contractual agreements.
- Seven Considerations (from S to X) introduce non-scientific based elements, as well as unfounded allegations.
Please find below an explanation of these arguments (Source: Europe For Family)
Argument 1: 48%of the Noichl Report’s paragraphs are in direct contradiction to the EU Principle of Subsidiarity:
- 13. Calls on the Commission to assess the possibility of
the EU acceding to the Istanbul Convention and initiate the procedure as
soon as possible, as well as to promote the ratification of the Istanbul
Convention by the EU Member States through the new strategy and work
actively to combat violence against women and girls; calls on the Member
States to sign and ratify the Istanbul Convention as soon as possible;
- 24. Calls on the Commission to ensure that Member
States enable the full legal recognition of a person’s preferred gender,
including change of first name, social security number and other gender
indicators on identity documents;
- 53.
Urges the Commission to include sexual and reproductive health and rights
(SRHRs), in its next EU Health Strategy, in order to ensure equality
between women and men and complement national SRHR policies;
- 60.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to act to implement sexual
education programmes in schools and ensure counselling and access to
contraception for young people;
- 65.
Instructs the Commission to conduct a study of the everyday impact of gender
portrayal in public life, the media and educational institutions, focusing
in particular on bullying at school, hate speech and gender-based violence;
- 76.
Calls on the Commission to promote the use of gender mainstreaming, gender
budgeting and gender impact assessment in all areas and for each legislative
proposal at all levels of governance and thus, ensure specific
gender equality targets; asks the Court of Auditors to incorporate the
gender perspective when assessing the execution of the Union budget; asks
Member States similarly to introduce the gender dimension in their budgets in
order to analyse government programmes and policies, their impact on the
allocation of resources and their contribution to equality between men and
women;
- 79.
Stresses the importance of the partnership between the Commission and Parliament and therefore, proposes that the Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender
Equality submit an annual progress report in oral and written form to
the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality - from the perspective both
of the Commission and the Member States and adopting a country-specific
approach in reporting with specific information on each Member State - on the
objectives set out in the strategy;
Argument 2: 35% of paragraphs are off-topic; with regard to the subject of the report: Strategy on Equality between men and women post 2014
- 2. Calls on the Commission to develop measures with the aim to eliminate discrimination against all women
in their diversity under a broader anti-discrimination strategy, a
distinctive and separate LGBTI roadmap; to that effect, it urges the
Council to reach, as soon as possible, a common position on the proposal for a
Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between
persons irrespective of their religion or belief, disability, age, gender or sexual
orientation, which has been blocked since its adoption by Parliament in April
2009;
- 16. Considers it urgent and necessary to further monitor the transposition and implementation of the
directive establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and
protection of victims of crime, the regulation on mutual recognition
of protection measures in civil matters and the directive on the European
Protection Order up to 2015 and beyond;
- 21. Calls on the Member States to fully implement Directive 2011/36/EU on
preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and on the
Commission to evaluate and monitor the implementation and to identify
best practices for Member States to share with a view to the adoption of
a new strategy to combat human trafficking after the current strategy
expires in 2016,(...);
- 24. Calls on the
Commission to ensure that Member States enable the full legal recognition of
a person’s preferred gender, including change of first name, social security
number and other gender indicators on identity documents;
- 31. Recommends that, as
the composition and definition of families change over time, family and
work legislation be made more comprehensive with regard to single-parent
families and LGBT parenting;
- 53. Urges the Commission to include sexual
and reproductive health and rights (SRHRs) in its next EU Health Strategy,
in order to ensure equality between women and men and complement national SRHR
policies;
- 54. Calls on the Member States to focus on the
prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and prevention methods, as
well as on prevention and research in order to improve early detection of
diseases such as female cancers (cancers of the breast, cervix, and ovaries) by
means of regular gynaecological controls and check-ups;
- 55. Reiterates its call on the Commission and
the World Health Organisation to withdraw gender identity disorders from
the list of mental and behavioural disorders, and to ensure a
non-pathologising reclassification in the negotiations on the 11th version of
the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), and to ensure that
gender diversity in childhood is not pathologised;
- 58.
Stresses the importance of awareness-raising campaigns for gender-specific
symptoms of disease, as well as gender roles and stereotypes having
an impact on health, and calls on the Commission to provide financial
support for gender-sensitive research programmes;
- 59. Calls
on the Commission to encourage Member States to promote (medical) fertility
support and to end discrimination in access to fertility treatment and
assisted reproduction; also notes in this connection the importance of
support for adoption and the right of all children to know their parents;
- 60.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to act to implement sex
education programmes in schools and ensure counselling and access to
contraception for young people;
- 61. Calls on the
Commission to create incentives for competent training in the critical use
of the media in the Member States to encourage the questioning of
stereotypes and structures and to share best practice examples so as to review
the ways in which roles have been stereotyped in the educational material used
to date; calls on the Commission, (...); emphasises in this regard that combating
bullying and prejudice against LGBTI persons in schools, whether of
students, parents or teachers, should be part of the
EU’s efforts to combat gender stereotypes; emphasises in this connection
the importance of gender-equitable teaching methods for teachers, so that they
can clearly explain the benefits of gender equality and a diverse society;
- 67. Calls on the
Commission to assist Member States in the establishment of university chairs
in gender studies and feminist research;
-73. Stresses the importance
of a gender-sensitive asylum and migration policy, the recognition of
the threat of genital mutilation as a reason for asylum, and the
development of appropriate guidelines and coordination of best practice
examples; emphasises in this connection the indispensability of an individual
right to stay, as otherwise there is an imbalance of power, with particular
reference to migrant women in cases of domestic violence; calls on the
Commission to assess and identify specific actions that can ensure that women
asylum-seekers’ rights are strengthened and fully respected throughout the
asylum procedure;
Argument 3: 17% of paragraphs entail serious risks of restrictions on freedom of speech of the media, freedom of education and freedom in the context of contractual agreements
- 28. (…) stresses in this
connection the need for awareness campaigns for the equal division of
domestic work and care and nursing, better investment in care
infrastructure, and encouragement (…);
- 44. Draws attention once again to the fact
there is still a gender pay gap that has hardly been reduced in recent years;
stresses that the gender pay gap arises from insufficient participation of
women in the labour market, vertical and horizontal segregation, and the fact
that sectors where women are over-represented often have lower wages; calls on
the Commission to monitor the implementation of Directive 2006/54/EU and to
present specific measures which take into account structural wage differences, both
legislative and non-legislative, so as to ensure wage transparency and apply
sanctions, thereby reducing the gender pay gap, and to submit an annual
progress report on this matter; encourages the Member States to recognise the
potential of the latest public procurement directive as a tool to promote and
enhance gender mainstreaming policy by considering setting requirements based
on the existing national legislation on equal treatment and gender equality as
prerequisites for public procurement contracts where applicable; calls on the
Commission and the Member States to examine whether social clauses in public
procurement might be used as a potential tool to enhance social inclusion policies;
acknowledges that EU legislation on competition must be complied with in
developing this idea;
- 60. Calls on the Commission and the Member
States to act to implement sex education programmes in schools and ensure
counselling and access to contraception for young people;
- 63. Points to the decisive role that
education and empowerment play in combating gender stereotypes and ending
gender-based discrimination, and to the positive impact for women as well as
for society and the economy in general; underlines that it is extremely
important to inculcate these values from an early age, and to carry out awareness
campaigns in workplaces and the media, highlighting men’s role in promoting
equality, the equal distribution of family responsibilities and the achievement
of work-life balance;
Argument 4: 7 considerations (from S to X) introduce non-scientifically based elements as well as unfounded allegations
- S.
whereas gender stereotypes and traditional structures have a negative impact on
health and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and the
associated rights, which are fundamental human rights and should therefore
never be restricted; whereas the right to control one’s own body and to
self-determination is a fundamental prerequisite for universal equality;
- T. whereas one in six couples
worldwide experience some form of infertility problem; whereas the Commission
should put forward a new Comparative Analysis of Medically Assisted
Reproduction in the EU, as the 2008 study (SANCO/2008/C6/051), which then
showed significant inequality of access to fertility treatment, is out of date;
- U. whereas there are still educational
institutions that practise gender segregation, and education materials often
contain stereotypes that help to perpetuate the traditional separate roles
assigned to girls and boys, which has a negative influence on their choices;
whereas these role patterns are further reinforced especially by
representations and the image of women transmitted by the media, material
available on the internet and advertising;
- V. whereas Trans persons face frequent
discrimination, harassment and violence across the EU today due to their gender
identity or gender expression;
- W. whereas the EU has a responsibility and a
role as a model for gender equality and women’s rights, which should become a
core concern in its external actions; whereas gender equality, the fight
against gender-based violence and the empowerment of women are essential if the
international development goals are to be attained and for successful EU
foreign, development cooperation and international trade policies; whereas
women are not only more vulnerable to the effects of energy, environment and
climate change, but also effective actors in relation to mitigation and
adaptation strategies, as well as a driving force for an equitable and
sustainable model of growth;
- X. whereas institutional mechanisms form a
necessary basis for the achievement of gender equality; whereas gender equality
must also be treated as an important, cross-cutting aspect of all policy areas
in the EU and its Member States, together with the concepts of gender
mainstreaming, gender budgeting and gender impact assessment;
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